


Keep Your Head Down Low

by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Species Swap, And also young, Everyone is Altean, Gen, Lance Hunk and Keith are about 13, Paladins in training, Pidge is 10/11-ish, Shiro (Voltron)-centric, Shiro is about 15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-10-10 05:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10429917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticReactions/pseuds/BossToaster
Summary: Based onthesetwoposts.Zarkon has betrayed the Paladins and broken the Galra away from the alliance with the Alteans.The young Paladins-in-training deal with the consequences, especially the Black Paladin to be.





	

The short of it was: nothing was the same since Zarkon betrayed them.

The short of it was: Hunk wished things could go back to how they’d been.

Those first few days right after had been terrifying.  The panic, the yelling, the strained atmosphere.  Hunk had wanted to stay in his room for it, but he wasn’t allowed to, and even if he was, Lance would have dragged him out.  For the longest time, they’d had no idea what anyone was talking about.  There were just clipped commands, being told to sit and wait and be good, while horrifying words like ‘rogue’ and ‘attack’ and ‘death toll’ were thrown around, just barely within hearing.

All of them had been put into one room and while they weren’t told not to leave, the implication was strong.  Immediately, Keith turned to Shiro, trying to get him to spill.  In hindsight, Hunk didn’t know why they’d all thought Shiro would know, except that he was older and he was going to be their leader someday, and he always helped with the answers to their nightly school work, so maybe he knew this too.

Shiro hadn’t.

“I’m sorry, I’m sure they’ll tell us soon,” he told them, hands up in placation, and at the time he hadn’t noticed, but when he thought back, Hunk thought Shiro looked just as scared as the rest of them.

That look only got stronger when one of their instructors burst in.  “Shiro,” he called, voice icy, and Shiro stared back, eyes wide.  Shiro always seemed so much  _ older _ than them, but in that moment he’d been very young looking.  “You are to come with me.”

It wasn’t even an order.  It was a demand.  It was a threat.

“Just me?” Shiro asked, and ducked his head at the immediate glare.  “Yes, sir.”  Iverson’s hand clamped down on his upper arm, rough in a way none of them usually saw, as Paladins to be.

He was dragged away, and Shiro cast another wild look over his shoulder.  “I’ll be back soon,  Stay calm.”

Then he was gone.

He was gone for  _ hours. _

None of them really managed to stay calm for that long.

By the time the door opened again, Keith had already worked himself up into a dark temper, and Lance was about ready to climb the walls.  But Pidge beat both of them to it, when the door opened and Iverson stood there.  “Where’s Shiro?” She demanded, as though if she was determined enough than every adult in the room would be blown out of her way by the force of it.

Iverson gave her a flat look, then stood aside.  Shiro was walked back in, guards on either side and his head down.

They were treating him like they were escorting a prisoner.

“What gives?” Lance demanded, hopping off the table he’d been using as a seat.  “Let go of him.”

The guards did, but probably because they were finished and not because of Lance’s yelling.  After a nod from Iverson, they filed out.  “If you think of anything else, you will tell us immediately,” Iverson said to the back of Shiro’s head.

“Yes, Sir,” Shiro replied, voice rough and cracked.  

With a last glare, Iverson left.

Keith immediately surged forward, hands clamping down on Shiro’s upper arms as he pulled him over to a chair.  “What did they do to you?” Keith demanded, and he was nearly shaking with fury.  “They’re not allowed to hurt you!”

The bitter smile Shiro gave at that made Hunk’s stomach freeze.

Apparently they could, in the right circumstances.

“They didn’t hurt me.  They just asked questions.  A lot of them over and over.”  Shiro sat down, and he cracked a smile when Pidge practically shoved her way into his lap, holding on to hug him.  “They wanted to know if I knew about Zarkon.”

“Knew what?” Hunk asked, eyes widening.  Had something happened to the Black Paladin?  It would certainly explain why Shiro looked so worn out.  He and Zarkon didn’t have a close relationship - most of them didn’t, because the Paladins were all very busy and didn’t always have time to stop by and check in on them.  But Shiro  _ idolized _ Zarkon, and had for years.  He looked forward to visits with a kind of hero worship they never saw in him otherwise, and he always tried especially hard to make sure their drills were perfect if he knew Zarkon was going to be reviewing their progress.  For their Paladin to be hurt - or worse - would devastate any of them.

But there wasn’t grief in Shiro’s eyes when he looked up.  Only wounded pain. “The Galra pulled out of the Alliance and attacked.  All of the ships.  And Zarkon tried to get away with the Black Lion.”  Shiro shook his head and closed his eyes, as they all tried to process what the hell Shiro was talking about.  “He betrayed us.”

The words were heavy in the air, but Shiro wasn’t done.  

“And they think I knew.”

***

Hunk didn’t know what to believe. 

Alright, maybe he believed about Zarkon.  He always had a dark air to him, a set to his expression that had made Hunk nervous.  When he was much younger he brought it up to King Alfor once.  The king had laughed and patted Hunk on the head and told him that Zarkon had that kind of face, but not to worry.  That he was a good leader and Black Paladin.

Hunk wondered what it would have been like if he’d pressed, but the king had been so sure and Hunk didn’t want to contradict him.  The feeling had never really gone away, but bringing it up to Shiro was never in the cards, so it didn’t really matter.

What Hunk knew was that Shiro was  _ in trouble _ for it.

Over the next few days, they were taken aside one at a time.  None of them were accused of helping, but they were all very thoroughly grilled on things Shiro had said to them.  Did he ever tell them they shouldn’t listen to their instructors?  Did he ever tell them to keep secrets?  Did he ever express sympathies for Zarkon and his politics?  Did he, did he, did he?

Hunk loved Shiro.  They all loved each other, because they were a team, and they were the only young Alteans in the building (unless the princess visited, but even so she was older than even Shiro), and they were trying to live.

But the answer to all of those questions was ‘yes’.  Shiro had.

Shiro had told them not to listen when Jameson said they weren’t good enough.  Shiro had said it was okay to cry, no matter what Harris told them.  Shiro had said not to tell anyone when he stole extra snacks at lunch, and he broke them out during study hours.  Shrio had drawn on Lance’s face when he fell asleep in his textpad, then held a finger to his lips and told Hunk not to tell it was him, and let Lance assume it was Pidge.  Shiro had mooned over Zarkon’s strategies and flying like Lance sometimes mooned over the princess, had talked about trying them himself and walked like he had clouds for feet for days after.  Shiro had been quiet for a week, once, and then quietly admitted Zarkon had told him it wasn’t fair that only Alteans had been picked for the next generation of Paladins, and that Shiro wasn’t sure he was wrong, and then spent the next hour reassuring them all that no one was getting kicked off the team, that he was just saying.

None of those were  _ bad _ , right?  They were all fun, or nice, or made Hunk feel better, except for the one about how they were all Altean.  That was just uncomfortable, but it was just Shiro caring about what was fair.

But if they were being asked about it, maybe it meant something Hunk didn’t understand.  He trusted their instructors.  It was important, and they knew best, and had all the answers from the textbook.

So maybe it was bad, but Hunk just hadn’t known.

***

“So are you the Black Paladin now?” Lance asked.  He spun his practice blaster in his hand, ignoring Shiro’s bland look for the lack of gun safety.  It didn’t matter - the shots only worked on Lance’s target, as proven every time he jokingly pretended to shoot Keith - but Shiro was serious about making Lance follow the same rules he would on a real gun.

Hunk agreed with that, but mostly because his own gun made him nervous, some days.  It was so  _ big, _ and he had to be careful about how he moved it or else he could hit someone and hurt them.

The instructors told Hunk  _ that was the point. _

He didn’t like hearing that.

“No,” Shiro replied.  “I’m not old enough.”

Pidge frowned at him from where she was sprawled out on the her own practice bayard resting on her chest.  “But you’re training.  What’s the point of all this if they’re not gunna make us the paladins after?”

“I don’t think they thought it’d happen this soon,” Hunk pointed out.  “Or we’re a later.  What happens when you are old enough?  Do you leave and we wait for the rest to...”  To something.  To die, to be too injured, to betray the entire universe.

Every few days there was a new report, another story about what the Galra had been doing and who they were attacking.

Hunk tried not to think about it, but he did anyway.  He knew the others did too.  Everyone was more tired the day after a report, like none of them had slept well.

“I don’t know,” Shiro told them.  “I guess it depends on the new Black Paladin, when they find one.”  He frowned and glanced toward the hangars.  “The Black Lion is grounded for now.”

Keith sat up, more interested now.  “Well, you can practice with the lion then, right?  Rather than the simulations and headbands.  Maybe you could fly it.”

The atmosphere of the room immediately brightened.  “Oh!  Take us with you!  We want to fly too.”  Lance demanded.

“I want to see the inside of the Black Lion.  Does it look like Green?  It’s so much bigger, is there more space?”

But Shiro’s shoulders slumped and he looked away.  “I’m not allowed in that area.  Not even the hangar.  The entire wing.”

They all fell silent.

Right.  For a minute they’d forgotten, but Shiro was still a suspect. They were probably afraid if Shiro was in the lion, he’d fly it to Zarkon.

“Oh,” Keith murmured, contrite.  “Well, maybe they’ll let you soon.  They have to, right?”

Shiro smiled, but it didn’t meet his eyes.  “Maybe.  For now, we need to get back to work.  We’re supposed to have this done within the next couple of Varga.”

Groaning, Pidge threw an arm over her eyes.  “Seriously?  We haven’t had a break all day.  I can’t move for at least a dozen dobashes.”

“Please, Shiro?” Lance added, eyes very big and blue and lower lip jutting out in a pout.  He didn’t look nearly as tired as Pidge, but he probably sensed an opportunity to goof off.

Normally, Shiro would have laughed and given them time, but today he shifted nervously, eyes on the door to the training room.  “We shouldn’t,” he murmured, and Hunk had never seen such naked fear in his eyes, even the first time he’d lead training all by himself.

“Who cares about should?” Keith asked darkly, and he glared at the door, bristling in a way that made his whole body look a little bigger.  Hunk had no idea how he did it, and more than once he wondered if Keith was actually the heir of a member of the royal family that no one wanted to claim.  It would explain why sometimes he seemed to move in weird ways.  “Screw them, they should have let us have a break.  They shouldn’t treat us like that.”

There was something extra to the tone, an accusation that Hunk didn’t know but Shiro did, because he looked away.  “The instructors know best,” Shiro told them, and it sounded practiced, like something he’d said a hundred times before, at least in his head.

“I could use a breather,” Hunk offered, hunching in on himself.  It was hard to believe that Shiro was plotting against Altea when he was so scared.  But maybe.

He felt less sure, now.

Glancing over all of them, and Hunk had no doubt they were a pitiful sight, Shiro nodded.  “Alright.  Just a few moments.  Then we need to get back.”

They never finished that drill, because before the break was finished, Harris stuck his head in and scowled at them all.  “What do you think you’re doing?”

Shiro flinched from the tone, and from the furious glare directed at him.  “A short break.  We were tired.”  His voice didn’t shake, but Hunk could hear the cracks it would have it Shiro let it.

Expression clouding dangerously, Harris stormed in and pulled Shiro aside, voice a furious hiss that didn’t carry well enough to really hear.  But reading lips, Hunk caught words like ‘rebellion’ and ‘removed’ and ‘proving’.

And Hunk didn’t need to be very observant to see the hunch of Shiro’s shoulders, the way his eyes clenched closed and his back straightened like he was one of the guards.  The bright red color on the tips of his ears and the barest tremble to his jaw.

That was what Hunk knew.

Shiro didn’t do it.  He hadn’t known.

But the instructors didn’t see it.

***

As the news poured in, the pressure got worse.

When Zarkon made an attack on the Okari, Shiro was publicly scolded for daydreaming.

When Zarkon destroyed an important trading base, Shiro was grilled on his textbook readings for half a Varga, and then scolded for not working hard enough when the questions tripped him.

When Shiro tried to defend himself, he was sent to extra training alone, and came back unharmed but shaken.

With each day, Shiro pulled back more, went quieter, spoke less.  They stopped asking him for extra breaks or trying to get him to goof off.  It wasn’t worth the fear in his eyes, or the knowledge that if he gave in and they were caught, he’d come back looking like he wanted to cry.

It burned under Hunk’s skin.  It wasn’t  _ fair. _  Shiro didn’t do anything except happen to be the Black Paladin in training, but now they were acting like he was a traitor too.  They were all waiting for him to make a mistake and twisting everything to mean he was going to follow Zarkon out.

Once or twice, at night when the injustice of it made Hunk want to shake and cry, he wished Shiro would.  He wanted Shiro to go and it would turn out Zarkon knew something and he was the hero and the people around them were the bad guys, and they’d get their lions and fly away and they’d be among good people.

But that wasn’t how this worked.  This wasn’t some fairy tale where one side had the nice people and the other had the mean ones, and it was easy to tell who was who.  Zarkon had betrayed them and he was hurting people, no matter what had started it.  That didn’t mean their instructors were always nice people for being on the other side.

Hunk wanted to tell King Alfor that.  He wouldn’t, but he wanted to, imagined it so hard he could taste the canned air of the Castle of Lions.  He’d stand up tall and his voice wouldn’t shake at all, and he’d tell the king that this wasn’t right and it didn’t matter if Zarkon was bad: it didn’t make treating Shiro like that okay.  And the king would agree and he’d talk to all the instructors and they’d see how wrong they were, and they’d apologize to Shiro for being mean and to the rest of them for being scary, and they’d be the  _ good guys _ like they were supposed to be.

It was a fairy tale, and Hunk opened his eyes and remembered that wasn’t his life.

Some of them weren’t content to imagine.

“They won’t talk to me at all!” Pidge raged, stomping in circles around them.  There were tears in her eyes, but Hunk knew better than to say something.  Pidge hated how she teared up when she was angry enough, and pointing it out would just make them fall, and then she’d be even angrier.  “They just tell me I don’t understand!”

“Same thing with me,” Lance said, arms crossed.  “Well, okay, they said it’s important that Shiro’s ready to be a paladin since he’s the oldest, and so he has more pressure.  Which is  _ stupid. _  They’re just mad at him.  This has nothing to do with being a good paladin.”

Keith crossed his arms darkly, glaring at the wall.  “He won’t do anything, no matter what I say.  He just says they’re right and he should do better.  He wouldn’t even let me say they’re wrong.”  His gaze hazed with worry.  “He covered his ears like a kid.”

“What else are we supposed to do?” Hunk asked. “Maybe if one of the Paladins comes, we can talk to them?”

Lance huffed.  “Good luck.  They’re so busy fighting Zarkon I don’t think they’ll come around for  _ ages. _  Especially since they don’t have a Black Paladin, and they won’t let Shiro help.”

The Black Lion was still sitting in the hangar, gathering dust like a discarded tech pad.  All of the Paladins in training were strictly forbidden from getting close, when the four of them had tried to sneak in to see it without Shiro.

He’d been in trouble for organizing it, and then for letting his team be out of control when they’d stood up for him.

Hunk’s stomach  _ burned _ with renewed anger.

“So we’re stuck?  We can’t do anything?  What’s the point of all this if we can’t make things right?”  Pidge stamped her foot, teeth gritted.  “Why’d they take us from our families if we’re just going to ignore us and not let us be Paladins?”

There was no answer to that.

All they could do was sit and watch and be helpless.

***

Then the shit hit the fan.

Jameson shook the knife in Keith’s face, near enough to hit him with it.  “You thought you could hide this?”

“I wasn’t hiding anything!”  Keith told him, teeth bared.  It had always been a quirk of Keith’s, but now it had new meaning.

Keith was Galra.

Keith had been Galra and none of them had known the whole time.

Expression twisting, Jameson scoffed.  “And I’m supposed to believe that?  You just snuck this in here and kept it on you the whole time for no reason?”

“It was my mother’s!” Keith let out, voice cracking.  “I never knew her.  I didn’t  _ know.” _

A few months ago, Hunk might not have known what to think.  That Keith had hidden something so big was jarring, when they’d all grown up together and Hunk thought they were close.

But after seeing this play out with Shiro, Hunk had no doubt.  Keith hadn’t known if he said he hadn’t.  End of story.

“You cannot be trusted!”  Jameson roared, and their was a near maniac fire in his ears, ears tilted back aggressively.  The words made Keith flinch and his hands shake.  “We cannot know that you’re not a traitor!”

Hunk was about to say something, and Lance was already taking a step forward, but Shiro beat them both to it.

_ “Don’t talk to him like that.” _

For all they listened to Shiro, for all they knew he was their leader, Hunk had never heard Shiro command someone like that.

Maybe it was because he knew he didn’t need to with the rest of them.  They’d whine and complain and sulk and yell, but they’d listen.

Jameson was different.  So Shiro was too.

Picking his head up, Jameson narrowed his eyes at Shiro.  “Excuse me?”

Shiro stepped forward and rested his hand on Keith’s shoulder, pulling him back.  “You don’t get to talk to him like that,” Shiro told him, tone heavy and flat.  His shoulders settled like there was a heavy cloak over them, and his lips pulled back in rage.  “Step away.”

“Who do you think you are?” Jameson snapped, eyes wide with outrage.  “You don’t get to order me.”

Shiro pulled Keith closer, until his back touched Shiro’s chest.  “I’m the Black Paladin,” Shiro told him.  “And he’s the Red Paladin.  And I do, because he’s on my team, and you  _ don’t get to talk to him like that. _  He’s mine to protect.  You will not treat him like you have been, or else you’ll answer to me.”

The words were clipped, not yelled, not hurried.  But there was a light to Shiro’s eyes and a strength to his words.

There was a rumble in the distance, like a crash or something huge shifting.  And then there was a roar.

The Black Lion was awake and responding to Shiro.

Jameson looked at Shiro like he’d just declared war on all of Altea.  While he was distracted, Keith reached out, lightning quick, and grabbed his knife back.  When Jameson tried to take it back, Shiro  _ growled, _ and the lion’s answering noise rumbled around them like thunder.

Apparently deciding he was outclassed, Jameson glared and stepped back.  He tapped his wrist console, snapping for guards.  “You’ll be punished appropriately for this.”

“Okay,” Shiro told him, head still held high.  “I can take that.  But don’t you touch Keith.”

Keith finally turned around, and when he looked up at Shiro, his eyes were shiny with tears.

That was the point Hunk couldn’t just watch anymore.  Moving over, he stepped next to them both, arms crossed and expression dark.  Every moment that had felt like acid hardened in his chest, and Hunk prepared to defend them both if need be.  “Shiro won’t be punished either.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Pidge agreed.  “Except stop you from being  _ awful. _ ”

“Maybe if you weren’t so shitty the Black Lion wouldn’t want to eat you up,” Lance added, lips pulled back in what was supposed to be a smile.  They took up Keith’s other side, just as protective.  “One bite.   _ Chomp.” _

Jameson looked over them all, and then at Shiro.  “You corrupted all of these children?”

But Shiro just smiled back, eyes roaming over the four of them.  “No.  They make their own choices.  I just make sure they’re allowed to.  And if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with my lion.”

There was chaos at that, as the guards arrived and Jameson called for Alfor, for the other Paladins, for this to be solved.

But that didn’t matter right now.  If they tried to break up this team, they’d have a problem on their hands.

They didn’t need to be Paladins.  They only needed to be a team.

...But having the Black Lion on their side helped a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> Want more? Check out my [Paladins in Training AU tag](http://bosstoaster.tumblr.com/tagged/Paladin-Training-AU)


End file.
